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#2
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USS Zumwalt Hunting (for Harry)
On 4/21/14, 6:00 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 4/21/2014 2:00 AM, wrote: On Sun, 20 Apr 2014 21:55:27 -0400, BAR wrote: In article , says... On Sun, 20 Apr 2014 17:33:52 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: Another misconception is the belief that ship based radar or any other electromagnetic radiation is even required to acquire, designate and guide a missile or other weapon to a target. It used to be so but not anymore. I understand passive missile FC systems but how do you find the target in the first place without something active? (if they are dark) Somebody has to see them with a radar and then that position information needs to be relayed to the airspace controller. Dick is right. I really got out of that business in the 60s and we had "hand me down" hardware at the time. The newest thing I actually worked on was a Mk 56. That was at the limit of it's capability tracking an airliner. The only thing that we had that was close to the state of the art was our ASW stuff. We had Mk 44 and Mk46 torpedoes on board. The sonar was still new enough that the FTs didn't even know what the hell it was. (no need to know). I think the "weather" stations were eliminated by sono buoys and other listening hardware as much as anything else. Satellites had eliminated the actual weather mission years before. Although I was in the ancient Navy for over 9 years, I learned more about some of the newer and current shipboard systems since I left the Navy and worked as a civilian on some military development and procurement programs. Most involved specific components that are integrated into the overall scheme of things. It is some amazing technology and it works which is also amazing given the rough conditions it is used in. I had an interesting (to me anyway) time in the Navy. A strange chain of events led to being assigned to a project group rather than as traditional ship's company on the two ships I spent time on. When the project was transferred from the first ship to the second, I was transferred along with the project. At the time the project was classified but is no longer. It was the initial deployment, testing and de-bugging of a passive sonar towed array system used to detect and identify ships and submarines without emitting traditional sonar "pings". A stationary ground based system called "SOSUS" had been in operation for years with facilities located around the globe. I read a report that the SOSUS facility in the Bahamas could track and identify the actual ship by name that was transiting the Strait of Gibraltar as it exited the Mediterranean Sea and entered the Atlantic. The project I was involved with was the pre-deployment testing of a similar type of passive system to a mobile platform like a ship or submarine. Every ship or sub, even of the same type and class has a unique noise "signature". A library of recorded signatures evolved over the years and computers at the shore facilities and then aboard ships can search the library for the recorded, matching signature. It is now standard equipment on most Navy ships and subs and the whole ground based and ship based system is integrated and operates under a different name. Tom Clancy sorta blew the whistle on this system when he referred and described it in "The Hunt for Red October". The Orioles are wearing a special patch on their uniforms this season to commemorate the passing of Clancy, who was a part owner of the team. |
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#3
posted to rec.boats
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USS Zumwalt Hunting (for Harry)
On 4/21/2014 11:38 AM, wrote:
On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 06:00:32 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 4/21/2014 2:00 AM, wrote: Dick is right. I really got out of that business in the 60s and we had "hand me down" hardware at the time. The newest thing I actually worked on was a Mk 56. That was at the limit of it's capability tracking an airliner. The only thing that we had that was close to the state of the art was our ASW stuff. We had Mk 44 and Mk46 torpedoes on board. The sonar was still new enough that the FTs didn't even know what the hell it was. (no need to know). I think the "weather" stations were eliminated by sono buoys and other listening hardware as much as anything else. Satellites had eliminated the actual weather mission years before. Although I was in the ancient Navy for over 9 years, I learned more about some of the newer and current shipboard systems since I left the Navy and worked as a civilian on some military development and procurement programs. Most involved specific components that are integrated into the overall scheme of things. It is some amazing technology and it works which is also amazing given the rough conditions it is used in. I had an interesting (to me anyway) time in the Navy. A strange chain of events led to being assigned to a project group rather than as traditional ship's company on the two ships I spent time on. When the project was transferred from the first ship to the second, I was transferred along with the project. At the time the project was classified but is no longer. It was the initial deployment, testing and de-bugging of a passive sonar towed array system used to detect and identify ships and submarines without emitting traditional sonar "pings". A stationary ground based system called "SOSUS" had been in operation for years with facilities located around the globe. I read a report that the SOSUS facility in the Bahamas could track and identify the actual ship by name that was transiting the Strait of Gibraltar as it exited the Mediterranean Sea and entered the Atlantic. The project I was involved with was the pre-deployment testing of a similar type of passive system to a mobile platform like a ship or submarine. Every ship or sub, even of the same type and class has a unique noise "signature". A library of recorded signatures evolved over the years and computers at the shore facilities and then aboard ships can search the library for the recorded, matching signature. It is now standard equipment on most Navy ships and subs and the whole ground based and ship based system is integrated and operates under a different name. Tom Clancy sorta blew the whistle on this system when he referred and described it in "The Hunt for Red October". Yup SOSUS was the last nail in the coffin of the USCG weather stations. We had some of that function in the mid 60s although nobody said it out loud. SOSUS was originally developed in the late 1940s and was deployed over the next two decades (50's and 60's) with upgrades and so forth. For many years it's existence and capabilities were classified. The Russians couldn't figure out why we always knew where to look for their subs that we constantly tracked. |
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